TMNT: The Wrath of Darth Maul
by Pheonix500
Summary: This is a story request from Shinigamilover2. A dangerous enemy reemerges from the distant past, testing the limits of the turtles' skill as they fight to protect the future from him. After some consideration, since the story does contain some strong language and graphic violence, I decided to bump the rating up to M. It might not be necessary, but I'd rather be cautious.
1. Chapter 1

**TMNT: The Wrath of Darth Maul**

 _2016_

 **Disclaimer: I have no claims on anything TMNT, created by Eastman and Laird and currently owned by Viacom (to the best of my knowledge). This is just for fun and I have no intention to profit from this. Normally, I'm all for turning my stories loose for all to use as they see fit, but as this one isn't my brainchild, so anyone wanting to make use of this premise, should probably run it by Shinigamilover2 first.**

 **Note: This is a story request by Shinigamilover2 (who kindly provided me with the title, premise and plot outline and beta read this for me). This is also a crossover of TMNT with Star Wars (particularly the movies, Clone Wars animated series and Knights of the Old Republic Game). I didn't really expect the first time I wrote a crossover to be with material that I'm not entirely familiar with. Of course I've watched the Star Wars movies (a LOT), but I've never seen the Clone Wars show or played Knights of the Old Republic, so I was missing some crucial background. Fortunately, with some direction from Shinigamilover2 and through the magic of YouTube, Wookiepedia and Star Wars forums that provide detailed and comprehensive answers to every conceivable Star Wars, I made it through and hope that the story isn't too rife with canonical errors.**

 **Chapter 1:**

Commander Mozar roared in fury causing all his subordinates on the bridge to cringe away from him. Again! Those turtle creatures had stolen yet another piece of the black hole generator and were evading his troops at every turn. Incompetents! All of them! To allow a handful of little aliens to thwart their glorious empire. Unthinkable.

"Have you located them yet?" His voice was dangerously calm, and the Triceraton lieutenant he had addressed swallowed hard and looking down at his console in trepidation.

Eyes widening, he let out a breath of relief. "Yes!"

"Where?"

"Uh…Secure storage, bay 7."

Mozar's eyes narrowed. "Secure storage? It's not so secure if they were able to get inside, now is it?"

The lieutenant shook his head nervously, glancing back at the console. "Bay 8 now, on their way to bay 9. We don't have anyone there."

"What's in bay 9?"

"…got it. That alien we found in the ruins of Korribon."

Mozar smiled. Maybe he did have someone there after all. "Shut down the stasis."

The lieutenant started. "Sir? But the scientists said that based on the records, the alien…"

His words died under Mozar's glare. "Yes, sir. Right away, sir."

* * *

The haze slowly began to lift, allowing in light…color…sound. Vaguely aware of voices, he had no attention for them right now as his last few memories, burned into his consciousness, rose to the fore of his mind. Sidious's treacherous victory and humiliating torture. The corpse of his brother. His apprentice. Being sealed away from the world.

Rage flared as feeling returned to his limbs. The need to lash out, to destroy, to kill, to spend freely his bottled up wrath, flooded every fiber of his being. Someone needed to die for the insults he'd been forced to endure. His surroundings snapped into focus.

"Be careful."

"This is so bogus."

Two humans were fleeing out one of the doors to the unfamiliar room, pulling a force bubble, containing some large piece of technology. Left before him were four bipedal, turtle beings, appearing ready to fight. They would regret it.

* * *

Donnie held his staff out in front of him, following the schematics Fugitoid had managed to obtain for them, projected holographically before him. They had lost a lot of time as he'd bypassed the locking system on this area, a process not helped by Raph's insistence on trying it his way first. Not every security system was a vulnerable to mindless violence as the Kraang's.

But he'd managed to unlock it and, if his information was correct, there shouldn't be a single enemy this way, giving them a clear shot to the hull. He'd already summoned their shuttle to meet them where he expected they could break through. Just a few more rooms to go now.

"Ack!"

Donnie skidded to a halt and spun around to see Casey tugging on the leash of the force bubble, which held the piece of the black hole generator they'd stolen, trying to tug it through the door way that it had become wedged in.

Sighing, he marched back over to Casey and tapped a dial on the leash's control unit. The bubble shrank slightly. It and Casey went flying towards the far end of the room.

Casey sat up glaring at him. "Could've warned me D."

He couldn't help but smile. "Where would have been the fun in that?"

Casey scowled and was about to retort when Leo intervened. "Enough. We need to keep moving."

Raph snorted. "Aren't you supposed to be fearless?"

Leo rolled his eyes. "And practical. Let's go."

A hissing sound froze them all in place. The room clouded with fog as a large machine, containing what might have been a person vented…coolant perhaps? Within the large cargo unit was what he suspected to be some kind of…stasis chamber.

They could see the inhabitant more clearly now as the energy shield flickered out. It was humanoid, but definitely not human, with skin a swirling pattern of red and black and horns protruding from its head. Donnie had never seen anything like it before. Although, since journeying out into space, he generally had that thought several times a day.

"Looks kind of demonic. That is so metal."

Donnie's gaze flicked back to Casey before disregarding him.

Unfortunately, Mikey didn't follow suit. "Totally. I gotta name him. Leo, what are demons called in Japanese?"

"Yokai, oni, yasha, tengu…"

"Why are you answering him? We should be kicking but and taking names right now!"

Raph interrupted, but Mikey forged ahead as though he had not even spoken.

"You know what, I'm gonna go with Demon Dude."

"Sweet. Demon Dude is going down." Casey readied his hockey stick and explosive space pucks until Leo raised a hand towards him.

"No. You and April get the black hole generator fragment to ship. We'll buy you some time."

"What?!" Despite Casey's indignation, Donnie was more focused on April. She looked really disturbed.

"Something's wrong Leo. Really wrong. We should all go. Now."

Leo frowned. "And have that thing…"

"Demon Dude." Mikey interjected.

"…following us? No. Getting the pieces to safety is too important for Earth's survival. Go. We'll cover you and be back before you know it."

April did not look reassured.

"If you think I'm gonna miss out on the epic demon battle…" April stilled Casey with a touch to his forearm, breaking his train of thought, before he acquiesced with a resigned sigh. "Fine."

Grabbing up the leash, April darted to the far door, risking a glance back at the turtles. "Be careful."

"This is so bogus." Donnie could hear Casey muttering as he charged after April. He looked back at their adversary and had to fight not to scramble backwards as it opened its startling eyes. Burning orange centers, ringed blood-red, melded together creating an illusion of flame. April was correct. This thing was wrong. Not inclined to engage in close combat with whatever that was, he started scanning the room with his bo staff. His brothers did not share his doubts.

"Booyakasha!" Heedless of the danger, Mikey flipped in spinning his energy tonfas. Despite the utter randomness of Mikey's approach, Demon Dude caught Mikey by the wrists as his little brother came down for the strike, as though it'd known exactly where Mikey would be.

It was just like the first time they'd fought Victor Falco, but this creature couldn't be psychic, since Mikey didn't generally project any thoughts to read. Precognitive maybe?

Donnie's analysis halted as the impossibly long instant, in which their enemy held Mikey aloft, broke. He flung Mikey to the ground with more force than should have been possible. Mikey grunted in pain as his shell dented the metallic stone floor, bouncing back up off the not inherently elastic surface, high enough for the demon to spin and land a solid kick to the center of Mikey's plastron.

Donnie felt nauseous at the resulting crunch as the strike hit, throwing Mikey into a pile of metal crates hard enough to break them open. His little brother dropped to the ground in a groaning heap, abnormally still, his arm bent at an unnatural angle as Triceraton teleporters spilled out onto the floor around him.

"Mikey!" All three of them couldn't help calling out at the sight of Mikey's fallen form.

Raph recovered from the shock first, gripping his energy jitte in unbridled fury. "Oh shell no. You are going to pay for that."

Leo darted a look back at Donnie. "We need an exit. Now."

"What? All we have is bunch of Triceraton tech that is totally alien to me. I've only interacted with their equipment a handful of times…"

The argument was cut short by Raph's scream and they both snapped back to the battle. Raph was pinned to the floor by what looked like bolts of fiery lightning bursting forth from the demon's hands while Raph writhed under its assault.

"Just do it, Donnie."

Then Leo was charging to attack with his energy katanas, if nothing else, hoping to draw the monster's attention off of Raph. Taking another quick survey of the room, a plan rapidly formed in Donnie's mind. He could do this. Doing his best to keep an eye on the fight, he dashed over to Mikey's fallen form and scooped up one of the teleporters, typing furiously into the control panel.

Meanwhile, Leo slid in to do a sweeping leg kick as he slashed upwards with his blades. The lightning abruptly vanished, but so did the demon, agilely flipping over Leo to get behind him. Leo, spun and rolled, bringing up his swords to defend against the barrage of punches, wondering who would be insane enough to attack energy blades unarmed.

Except he wasn't. The strikes hit as though his fists were gloved in an invisible force field. One that blasted outward to throw Leo into Raph who was just regaining his feet.

Struggling to throw off the stunning effects of the blow while disentangling himself from his furious brother, Leo couldn't help but ask. "Who…urgh..are you?"

The demon narrowed its eyes at him. "I am the Sith warrior, Darth Maul."

Then Darth Maul threw his hands out towards them and he found himself and Raph thrown back into and pinned against the wall, fighting to breath.

"Got it!" Donnie cried out in exultation as he speared the lighting system on the ceiling, raining explosive electric bolts and sparks into the room, distracting their opponent for the fraction of an instant he needed to teleport himself and his brothers out of there.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

Despite not actually needing to breathe, Fugitoid sighed at the open com-link. They weren't listening to him. As usual.

"Leo said to wait for them."

"We've waited long enough, Red. I'm going back in."

He tried again. "If you could just…"

In an orange flash of light, four turtles dropped into the bridge.

"Casey wait…"

"If you think that I'm gonna…"

"The turtles are here. Meet us in the infirmary when you get back." With that, Fugitoid terminated the link and got to work.

* * *

Darth Maul scowled as his opponents vanished. They had served their purpose in taking the edge off his rage, allowing him to direct his thoughts and energy towards more productive ends, but he preferred being the one to decide when a fight was over, usually when his enemies lay dead at his feet.

Before he could dwell on it further, nearly a dozen horned, lizard aliens flooded the room. The one with the metal face plate appeared to be in charge. Interestingly, they seemed to think they were at the advantage.

The leader approached. "It is good to see we have a common enemy. I am Mozar, Commander of armada of the glorious Triceraton Empire. You have proven yourself worthy in battle. I propose a mutually beneficial alliance between us."

He sneered. So that's what these creatures thought. That he needed them. They might be useful in some capacity, but certainly not equals.

"I do not make alliances with lesser beings."

Their indignation had barely set in when he unleashed a wave of force out in all directions slamming them back into the walls and against each other. Before they could recover, he was already on the move with blinding speed. One by one they were disabled in rapid succession to the crunch of bones and snap of joints, clearly unused to being so vulnerable to physical attack.

Surprisingly, Mozar did actually manage to block his initial kick and the follow up punch he'd stepped in with immediately after. However, when the Triceraton leader switched to the offensive, attempting to counter with a crushing hammer fist, he easily stepped out of the way, knowing exactly where the attack would land. Clamping a hand down on Mozar's wrist, with force enhanced strength, he twisted the massive creature into a throw that put Mozar's head clear through one of the stone walls.

Stepping through the nearest exit, into the next room, he found one remaining Triceraton, trying valiantly to disguise its apprehension.

"You will guide me to a ship and pilot me to the nearest spaceport."

The Triceraton straightened. "Never. I am a soldier of the glorious Triceraton Empire."

He had no patience for false bravado. Reaching out a hand, he watched the creature scream as its bones compressed inward, fissuring into a countless tiny fractures, stopping just short of shattering them. It collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, when he released it.

"Get. Up."

The alien, with great effort, forced itself to its feet.

"You will guide me to a ship and pilot me to the nearest spaceport."

It bowed its head. "Yes sir."

* * *

Donnie sat listlessly on a metal stool, watching as Fugitoid adjusted the settings for the therapy chamber that he'd placed Mikey in, which mostly looked like a big glass cylinder, tilted back at an angle, full of colorful lights.

When the Fugitoid had first shown him the infirmary, weeks ago, he'd been brimming with excitement at how advanced the medical technology was over its Earthen counterparts. Back then, he couldn't wait to give it a trial run. Back then, he hadn't spared much thought for the reason why they would need it.

Now, seeing his unnaturally listless little brother inside the miracle device completely dampened his enthusiasm. The fact that Mikey would only require days to recover from what should have taken weeks of healing was overshadowed by the memory of his brother acquiring those injuries, playing on repeat in his head.

Beside him, Leo sat holding ice packs over his swelling bruises, brooding as he watched Fugitoid work. On the other side of the room, Raph paced in angry agitation, having already discarded his own ice packs in the sink. It probably would have been in all their best interests for him to go work off some of his frustration on holographic versions of familiar enemies, but Donnie knew that he'd be reluctant to leave Mikey right now. And so he tromped back and forth, like a caged animal.

The infirmary doors opened.

"Omigosh, Mikey!"

He couldn't help the spike of irrational jealousy as April rushed into the center of the room. His brother's failure to even fake a smile for her benefit, crushed the sentiment away. There was more at stake.

"I knew I should've stayed and helped." Casey sauntered in grumpily and Raph glared at him.

"Why? So you could've gotten your ass handed to too?"

Casey snorted. "Dude. I'm Casey Jones. I was made for taking down demons."

Donnie bristled. "That wasn't a demon, just some kind of alien."

Leo broke in, forestalling any further argument. "Fugitoid, do you know what it was we fought? He called himself Darth Maul and said that he was a Sith warrior."

Fugitoid tapped his metal fingers together thoughtfully. "Well Sith describes a splinter variant of a religion that used to exist in this set of galaxies roughly half two millennia ago."

Raph huffed. "A zealot? Fantastic. Why could he shoot freaking lightning out of his hands?"

"Well, it was said that practitioners of the faith possessed extraordinary abilities and were capable of great feats, such as you've said to have witnessed."

Donnie scoffed. "Belief doesn't give people super powers."

Fugitoid rubbed his head. "Well there may have been a scientific basis but, if so, it's been lost from what records managed to survive from that time."

Leo, who had been staring at Mikey's inert form, cast a sidelong glance over toward Fugitoid. "Given some of the other civilizations we've encountered on this journey, two thousand years isn't that long. Why isn't there more information?"

Fugitoid sighed. "Originally, this whole region ruled itself collaboratively under an intergalactic government. However, through the devastation of civil war and violent political upheaval, a great deal was lost and not just history. Whole planets and star systems were annihilated and the united government fell. The civilizations here have yet to recover."

Raph pounded the side of his fist against the infirmary wall. "We don't need a history lesson on stuff that happened forever ago. We need intel on this Maul freak so that we can bring him down!"

Fugitoid tutted in irritation, but clomped over to a computer terminal, typing rapidly into it. "There are a few mentions of an individual named Darth Maul. Ooh, it seems he was a warrior of the Nightbrother clan on Dathomir. There aren't very many of them left after…everything. They're quite scattered now. You see Dathomir was…"

"I said intel, not an irrelevant history lesson."

Raph punctuated his point, by slamming his fist on the counter beside him, causing all the medical instruments on it to become momentarily airborne before clattering down again in a disorganized heap. Fugitoid's eye lights blinked in a circular pattern, which Donnie could only assume was his equivalent of eye rolling, before scrolling through more windows on his terminal.

"At one point it was believed that he died on Naboo during that planet's war with a trade federation."

Raph groused. "Didn't look too dead to me."

Fugitoid shrugged. "Accounts state he was cut in half."

"Robo-legs." They all turned at the sound of Mikey's voice. It was the first time the normally loquacious turtle had spoken since returning from the mission. "He kicked like Fish Face."

Donnie frowned. "Yeah, but cut in half…"

"Well not every species stores a bunch of vital organs in an unprotected midsection."

"Hey!" Apparently Casey had taken Fugitoid's explanation personally.

Raph couldn't help but twist the knife a little by tapping his own plastron armored abdomen while smirking at their human allies. "You guys are a little squishy."

Casey looked about ready to stomp over and clock him one. "We'll see who's squishy after I…"

"Are there any more mentions of Darth Maul?" April interrupted before they could be further sidetracked.

"Hmm, he appears to have had several encounters with a Jedi name Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"A what?" Leo's voice interrupted.

"Jedi. The other practitioners of the religion. Keep up. Uh, let's see. There was a confrontation on Naboo where Darth Maul supposedly died. Another on a planet called Raydonia. And a third on Mandalore, the last known location where Darth Maul was sighted."

Leo tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Since there were multiple encounters, then this Jedi must have been partially victorious. Do they say how?"

Fugitoid shook his head. "Unfortunately, the reports are mere mentions, but I would presume that the Jedi was able to counter him with analogous powers of the same faith."

Raph stomped over angrily. "So it was freaky magic versus freaky magic. How the shell does that help us?"

Fugitoid's metal hand collided with Raph's cheek. "Get a hold of yourself Raphael."

Stunned, Raph blinked for a few seconds. "Did you just slap me?"

Leo snickered. "It worked though. Just like when Captain Ryan does it on Space Heroes."

With a roar, Raph dove at Leo, toppling him off the stool. Donnie proceeded as though there wasn't a violent tussle on the floor at his feet. "Once again, there's no such thing as magic. There must be some other explanation for his abilities."

Fugitoid threw his hands up in a futile gesture. "As I said before, if there was once a scientific explanation, it has been lost to history."

Casey tapped his hockey stick on the ground. "So this dude's major evil right?"

Fugitoid went back to the terminal. "Well, the Sith were never regarded as a force of good to my knowledge and it says here that he was affiliated with a criminal syndicated called Shadow Collective as well as a Mandalorian terrorist group known as the Death Watch."

Casey waited impatiently through the lengthy response. "So, yeah. Major evil. What's he gonna do now that he's here and free?"

Fugitoid tapped his fingers together again as he spoke. "Well, if history is any indication, reestablish a Sith empire in which he will rule absolutely with an iron fist and crush all freedom and resistance under his heel."

That got everyone's attention and the room went quiet. Then April's quiet voice broke the silence. "So we need to stop him."

* * *

Darth Maul sat on the bridge of his new ship. Once he'd arrived at this spaceport, he hadn't needed his Triceraton chauffeur any longer and had rid himself of the nuisance. It hadn't taken him long to locate most of the materials that he required and woe to anyone foolish enough to trying charging him. He was not in a mood to be generous.

He'd also located a ship who's controls and language were familiar to him and had promptly relieved the vessel's owner of it. The fool wouldn't be needing the ship any longer.

Darth Maul looked down at his handiwork. He hadn't realized until this moment exactly what he'd done. More than twice as long as most hilts with a black and white striped center and sharply arched metal ends curving in opposite directions, he'd recreated the saber-staff of Savage Oppress. His student. His brother. Who had died believing himself to be unworthy. With this staff, he would prove his brother wrong. All it needed now were the crystals to bring it to life and he would find them if he had to stop at every spaceport in the galaxy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

"I think I've got something!" At her call, everyone crowded around April's terminal.

Donnie managed to shove his head right next to hers and she couldn't help but smile a bit. "You found him? That's amazing. How did you do it?"

Proud of her accomplishment, she didn't hesitate to answer. "After Fugitoid said he wasn't likely to work for the Triceratons, I decided to look for reports of lone Triceraton vessels in the vicinity of their base. There was one abandoned here. Since it was obviously left there, I expanded my search to include reports of stolen vessels at that location and crossed referenced them with other incidents of violence or theft committed by a perp of our guy's description. Thankfully, for us at least, he's left quite the wake of destruction behind him. As far as I can tell, he's been spotted here, here, here, here and here."

"Uh oh." They all turned at the sound of Fugitoid's voice, his eyes lit up in big round circles.

Mikey fidgeted. "That was a good 'uh oh' right?"

Raph gently bopped his little brother over the head. "When is 'uh oh' ever good, doofus?"

Mikey's eyes narrowed at Raph, indicating just how increasingly frustrated he'd become at his normally unrestrained sibling treating him as though he was made of glass.

Fugitoid clomped forward and tapped a few buttons on April's screen, causing a trajectory line to link all her points of data and generating a blinking new destination point. "It seems he's headed towards the Lehon system."

Mikey gasped. "Leo they named a star place after you."

Leo shook his head. "Star system, Mikey and it's Lehon, not Leo." Then he turned his attention back to Fugitoid. "And that's bad because…?"

"I don't know."

"What?" Everyone reacted in unison to his response, but he kept going as though he didn't hear them.

"The old government had completely quarantined that star system, with all information on it redacted. They wouldn't have done so without a very compelling reason."

Casey shrugged. "So we don't let Demon Dude get to that place. Simple."

April looked back at the screen. "Well, he's been hitting spaceport after spaceport, so if he's headed that way, the next nearest one is here."

Leo's features locked in determination. "Then we've got a mission. Fugitoid, how fast can you get us there?"

* * *

Darth Maul's eyes rove over the wares as he stalked through yet another market. Well there was no shortage of crystals in general, seeing as how they were essential for powering blasters, however locating specific ones of quality turned out to be no easy task.

Almost no one fought with light sabers any more. With no trained Force users, at least as far as he could tell, the weapon was of no use against firearms in battle and so had been relegated to toys for collectors and hobbyists, nostalgic for times long gone or as tools of industry, effective at effortlessly slicing through steel and other metals. To complete his staff, he had a particular crystal, or set of crystals, in mind and no others would do. And so he searched.

It didn't help that he was distracted. For the past several nights, he'd heard something calling to him. Something old. Something powerful. Something offering promises. It sang to him through the dark side, beckoning him. But all he saw in his dreams was an ancient, shattered space station.

The visions had begun not long after he'd found that star map at his first port of call after acquiring his new ship.

 _Spaceport was too generous a term for this refuse pit. The place was a shanty town of vagrants hawking whatever they could find. But it did offer a wide variety of items and so he couldn't disregard it in his search._

 _To his left, he heard someone calling out. "We've just returned from a run with the finest loot in seven galaxies. Hurry over and get first dibs!"_

 _When he turned to look, they were merely a motley crew of scavengers. Carrion eaters picking away at the carcass of the universe he once knew. He despised them._

 _Then his eyes fell upon a single data cartridge amidst their sprawling table of spoils from the ruins of the old civilization. Something about it resonated with him, calling out to him, drawing him near. Curious, he approached and lifted it for a closer examination._

 _"Ah, a fine choice. We negotiate, if you're willing to make a fair offer."_

 _"I'll take it."_

 _The scavenger grinned. "Excellent, how much were you thinking…"_

 _"No. I said, I'll take it." He tucked it into a compartment in his belt._

 _The surprise on the vender's face quickly shifted to anger. "Hey! You can't…"_

 _His words dissolved into choking gasps as Darth Maul slowly crushed his windpipe with a single gesture._

 _Crying out in alarm, the scavenger's nearest comrade grabbed a long, stone idol and leapt the counter towards him, wielding the artifact like a club. He caught the statue as it came down at him, ripping it out of his attacker's hand and thrusting it forward to bury the sharply pointed end in his assailant's chest, watching dispassionately as his victim fell dead._

 _The others backed away cautiously, as they should. But he was not inclined to let them go. An example needed to be made here. To the screams of the other customers, he tore them apart, leaving not a single survivor. No one dared stop him as he walked away either. As it should be._

The cartridge had contained a map that was both familiar and not. After that the dreams had begun. Somehow he knew that if he could get to the space station and restore it to its former glory, nothing would be beyond his reach. No goal to lofty to be out of reach. Armies untold would be at his disposal and all would fall before him, should he answer the call. And so, though he had no means to restore it himself, he'd been gradually followed its summons. To claim it for himself. The Star Forge.

His ruminations were interrupted as his eyes landed on a stand, hawking just what he needed. The four red shards glittered in the light of the world's blue suns, just the amount he required. Bane's Heart crystals. Perfect.

With a terrifying smile, he made his way over.

* * *

They'd split into teams, spreading out among the vender stalls to seek their quarry. It bothered Donnie that they didn't exactly have an improved strategy for facing off with this opponent, other than not being taken by surprise as they had last time.

At least Casey and April were with them this time, although he wasn't sure if that was cause for worry or relief. Their aid might make the critical difference between victory and defeat. Then again, they could also be more lambs to the slaughter.

And he especially didn't like that they'd been paired off together, but when he'd complained to Leo, all he'd gotten was some vague response about her distracting him. He could focus on other things around her. Sort of.

So instead of April's intoxicating presence, he had Raph. He loved his brother, but Raph wasn't the best company in ideal circumstances. A Raph still smarting from a humiliating defeat was just grueling to spend time with. He'd been certain on at least five occasions that his brother's surly attitude would entangle them in an unnecessary fight.

Donnie's breath caught in his throat as his eyes snapped onto their target. Being in his peripheral vision, he'd almost missed him and moved on. Now it was as though he couldn't see anything else.

Darth Maul stood in the ruins of a merchant stall, inserting four red power crystals into a long, cylindrical device. He drew in a sharp breath as the item flared to life, becoming a red, double bladed plasma staff.

Despite Darth Maul's triumphant expression, he couldn't help but drool over it a little bit. Using the various blaster crystals on Fugitoid's ship, he'd produced energy weapons for each of his brothers, although in all fairness, technically Leo's had already been there, intended as hull cutters and only requiring minor modifications to serve as katana.

He'd been so thrilled with his new staff, technically designed to be an analytical tool rather than a weapon, being metal and so much harder to break than his old, wooden bo staffs, that he hadn't bothered creating something new for himself, even if fighting with his new staff did tend to throw off the computer's calibrations. But now he knew exactly what he needed.

"Hey Donnie, why don't you have something like that?" Raph's voice broke through his envy.

"I'm making myself one as soon as we're back on Fugitoid's ship."

Unfortunately, their exchange had attracted some unwanted attention as Darth Maul turned to face them with an unnerving focus. He'd thought they were far enough away not to be heard. Apparently not. Some ninja.

"What are waiting for?"

"Raph, stop!"

He groaned internally as his temperamental brother charged in, tapping his communicator headset. "Leo, we've found him and we need back up. Now."

* * *

Darth Maul sensed their approach as he put the finishing touches on his saber-staff. He couldn't say that he was disappointed. During his explorations to recreate his weapon, no one had offered him even the slightest challenge. He was a warrior at heart. There was nothing quite like a good fight and now that he once again held a proper weapon, he wanted to test it out. His saber-staff flared to life.

"Hey Donnie, why don't you have something like that?"

"I'm making myself one as soon as we're back on Fugitoid's ship."

He turned towards the sounds of their voices, ignoring the screaming flight of everyone else in the vicinity. These turtles would provide an excellent test of his craftsmanship. It helped that, though untrained, they were force sensitive, using their abilities more on instinct and combat training than true focus. Just as he had before Sidious approached him.

The thought of his former master stoked the flames of his fury. No he didn't want this fight to be over too fast at all. A challenge would make christening his saber in the fading light of their lives that much more satisfying.

"What are we waiting for?"

"Raph, stop!"

The red clad turtle charged in, with the same plasma weapons he'd wielded the last time. It veered away at the last second to launch itself toward him, kicking off of a neighboring stand, but he'd sensed the move before it happened and turned to catch the twin blades on his staff, spinning it to flip the turtle onto its back.

But the turtle took control of its fall and turned its momentum into a midair kicked aimed straight for his head. He merely leaned back so it swept the air in front of his face instead.

As the kick passed, his free hand shot out and clamped down on the turtle's ankle. Its green eyes widened in an instant of surprise before he turned sharply, yanking hard on the leg and sending the turtle flying into the crates of produce just behind him.

He stalked toward the fallen creature, but spun around at the last second, slicing in half the staff of the other turtle sneaking up behind him.

"What? Again? Why?"

Distracted by the destruction of its weapon, it didn't see his kick until it plowed into the turtle's chest sending it into a backwards tumbling fall, that would have ended badly for it upon smashing into the steel wall at the end of the lane, had it not ducked its head and limbs into its shell for protection.

The crates burst apart behind him as the first turtle dove forward with an enraged scream. Darth Maul sidestepped and swung his staff down, but the turtle caught the end of his blade with one weapon while thrusting in with the other, likely familiar with staff fighting from its companion. Good. He didn't often get the chance to fight with someone who didn't specialize solely in sword style.

Twisting to avoid being skewered, he brought up a robotic knee to knock the weapon from the turtle's hand, sending it flying. But the turtle recovered quickly, unfazed at the loss of one of its weapons. He had to admit, the creature impressed him. Very few could stand so long in a solo fight against him.

With its newly freed hand, it pulled something from its belt as it whipped its leg around to plant its shin in his side while still using its remaining weapon to hold his staff off. He brought an elbow down sharply on the fast approaching kick and though the turtle roared in pain, it didn't quit.

Throwing down the object it had retrieved, they were immediately enveloped in a cloud of purple smoke. The turtle spun and ducked, rolling rapidly behind him, while favoring its uninjured leg, unaware that he didn't need sight to know where it was.

It thrust its blade with the intent to spear him through the back, but he whipped around, deflecting the plasma blade with his staff, while bringing his leg around to kick the weapon out of the turtle's hand. Not giving the shocked being a chance to recover, he continued the spin, swinging his other leg into a kick that collided against the turtle's head with an audible crunch.

His opponent dropped like a rock.

As the smoke cleared, he could see its chest rise and fall, breathing, proof that it still lived. A tenacious life form, full of vitality, even in this state.

The remaining turtle advanced on him, wielding the halves of its staff like twin swords. He looked clumsy in technique, but not entirely unfamiliar with dual blades. He respected its willingness to fight, but this would be a much less entertaining battle. First things first though. He pointed the end of his staff at the unconscious turtle's chest and its comrade gasped.

"Raph!"

Hmm. He glanced back at his terrified adversary, looking desperately at its fallen ally. A memory from his first fight with them returned in a brief flash.

 _"All we have is bunch of Triceraton tech that is totally alien to me. I've only interacted with their equipment a handful of times."_

Despite the assertion, it had figured out one of the Triceraton devices during the seconds of that brief fight. And one glance at his staff had resulted in it declaring it would recreate the device with absolute confidence today. This creature could be useful to him. With the right motivation. He pressed his staff closer, scorching the top of the fallen turtle's chest armor.

"Stop! Please."

This would work perfectly.

"Drop your weapons."

The turtle complied without hesitation, the halves of its staff clattering to the ground at its feet.

"Approach."

Scanning the area frantically for something to aid it and finding nothing, the turtle came forward, step after grudging step. At this range, he noticed one particular item among the many on the turtle's belt. It would solve the problem of managing the creature until it could be properly restrained.

His free hand shot out and the turtle's eyes widened in surprise as he snatched the hypodermic injector. Time to see if it contained what he suspected. The turtle started to involuntarily jerk away from him, until he slid his saber further along the prone turtle's armor, threateningly spreading the scorch marks. The turtle froze its retreat, expression becoming resigned. It allowed itself to be injected to protect the other.

Seconds later, its eyes rolled back in its head and it collapsed, breathing evenly on the ground. A sedative. Perfect. And the device had at least four more doses in it. Being thorough, he injected his burned and unconscious leverage too in order to prevent it from awakening at an inopportune moment. Everything was falling into place. Now he need only get to Star Forge. With this turtle, he could restore it and take his rightful place as ruler of this system of galaxies and more.

"Raph! Donnie!"

He turned slowly as the allies he recalled from the first fight approached, the humans from one side and the turtles from another. The sword wielder glared at the other turtle, clearly annoyed at it for spoiling their stealth attack. Not that he hadn't sensed them.

Unwilling to wait for a proper opening in his defenses, the human male projected a cluster of discs, launching them with a curved stick. Lightning fast, he disintegrated each projectile with a twirling slash of his saber-staff before a single one could explode.

As the turtles charged in, the human female tried firing her blaster at him. With one hand, he deflected each blast with his staff blades and impossible speed, before rolling aside so that the two attacking turtles' strikes hit empty air and they had to check themselves to avoid harming each other.

The final deflected blaster projectile redirected into the human male, who did not have the reflexes to dodge a threat of that speed. Though he tried. And almost made it. The blaster bolt hit the side of his chest plate, burning the armor into shattering at the sudden change in temperature. With a cry the human fell, clutching his shrapnel filled side.

"Casey!" The others called out to him, losing precious seconds they could have been gaining ground fighting.

He used the distraction to lunge forward landing a double kick solidly into each turtle's shell, sending them sprawling forward, though they absorbed the fall into a twisting roll.

Then the human girl, stronger in the force than the others but still untrained, tried to blast him with a force push. Possessing raw power wasn't enough while lacking control and focus. Gathering his will, he reflected her own attack back at her, slamming her violently into the metal stall behind her. She wouldn't be rising again for a while.

The turtles spread out and circled him, having learned their lesson after the first distraction had cost them. Simultaneously they struck, one from each side. But his staff was long enough to block the flurry of attacks they unleashed from both sides.

Enough of this.

Wrenching his staff free of their weapons, he used the momentary imbalance he'd caused to jump into a split kick, cracking each foot into the underside of their jaws and throwing them onto their shells.

Dazed and injured, they struggled to their feet, but it would be precious moments before their heads were clear enough for their bodies to obey their minds' commands. Moments they did not have.

Tucking his saber into his belt, he grabbed up his first two fallen turtles by their shells and sprinted off towards his ship. Glory awaited him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

Staggering onto the ship, April rushed over to one of the computer terminals on the bridge, vaguely aware of Mikey and Leo helping Casey to the infirmary behind her. Her head was pounding from the concussion and it felt like her brain was on fire from the overextension of her powers, but she ignored it. She was on a mission. She had to find them. Donnie. Donnie and Raph.

Loading up the tracking program, she sought their communicator signals. The machine ran the search protocol.

NO TRACE FOUND.

She slammed both fists down with a scream of frustration.

* * *

Darth Maul detached the energy cuffs from the unconscious turtle's hands and feet, glad that he had taken them from the various law enforcement officers who had been foolish enough to confront during his many stops, searching for the saber crystals.

They had served him well, keeping his captives restrained as he navigated the rest of the way here, allowing him to save the remaining doses of sedative to bring them aboard the Star Forge. He wanted to be sure that he was doing this right, just as the Star Forge had shown him, and a struggling captive would have only been a nuisance. Given the damage that the space station had sustained, it was fortunate that there was even one functional cell left.

Snapping the plasma cuffs in place, he locked the turtle's wrists together and manacled each ankle. Then he shoved his captive onto the circular platform. Adjusting the controls as he had done in his dreams, the power source atop the cell flared to life.

As though magnetized, its wrists snapped upward, a flickering bolt of lightning connecting to the cuff from the top of the machine, dragging its body up and off the ground as analogous electrical bolts locked onto its ankles from the bottom. The cylindrical cell flooded with light, setting the turtle adrift within. That would hold the creature for the time being.

The machine required a bit more work to fulfill its true purpose, but that was a secondary plan to explore if the turtle proved uncooperative. For now, he had other business.

Lifting the second turtle by its shell, he dragged the creature up towards he primary control panel of the vessel's bridge and hooked its cuffs to one of the metal supports. When it awoke, it would have a lot of work to do.

* * *

Donnie slowly blinked his eyes open, his dry mouth feeling as though it were stuffed with cotton and his lids swollen and heavy. His sluggish limbs responded belatedly to each mental command. As much grief as he gave his brothers for whining about needing sedation, he probably hated being on the receiving end more than the rest of them combined.

As his eyes focused on his surroundings, he became aware of Darth Maul glaring down at him. He involuntarily jerked away, gasping in pain as the cuff dug into his wrist. Looking down, he could see the metal band, locked on him, connected by a strand of pale, yellow light to its mate, affixed to the support beam of a large computer console.

Not again. He'd spent the entire ride uncomfortably trussed up, next to his incredibly irritable brother. Brother? Raph! Where was Raph? He began casting about frantically.

"The other is safe. For now."

Unable to see Raph, he was forced to take the monster's word for it. Something he only did because the alternative was unthinkable. Where were they now?

Darth Maul reached down, and despite his futile efforts to scramble out of reach, clamped a hand down on the top of his shell, hauling him to his unsteady feet.

"This is Star Forge. I want it operational as soon as possible. You will give me an estimate of how quickly it can be done. If I find it unacceptable, you will not like the consequences."

Standing up as straight as he could with one wrist cuffed to the underside of the table, he met Darth Maul's cold stare with one of his own.

"You must be crazy if you think I'm going build or fix anything for you. Do your worst." He immediately regretted it the moment the words were out of his mouth, but he couldn't take them back so he braced himself for the pain that would inevitably follow.

But Darth Maul didn't appear irritated in the least. In fact, he seemed vaguely pleased. As though Donnie had provided him with an opportunity that he'd been waiting for. Tapping a few buttons on the cuff remote control affixed to his belt, a band of yellow energy, linked his captive wrist to the manacle on his loose hand before releasing from the table.

"Come."

When he didn't move to follow, Darth Maul glanced back at him. "You don't want to see the other one?"

Raph. Ankles still shackled, he shuffled after his captor, both eager and afraid to see what state his brother was in.

* * *

The first thing Raph became aware of was the sense of weightlessness, followed by the crippling nausea. He hated space. Or Dimension X. Or wherever the shell he was.

Why wouldn't his eyes open? Not being able to see was making the motion sickness worse. He wanted to move his hand to rub his face, but it didn't respond. He couldn't move at all.

Anger warred with unease as he struggled to piece together his most recent memories. There had been a long journey in the spaceship he'd woken up in, hog tied and humiliated. He'd lost track of the time, but it had seemed like eternity.

Not that Donnie was much help. You'd think with the way he bragged about how smart he was that he would've figured out a way to get them free. But all he did was whine about not being able to reach the locking mechanism.

Donnie? Donnie! Where was his brother? He wanted to thrash. To scream. But his body wouldn't respond. He was trapped and his little brother was out there somewhere. Damn it!

An impossible to measure amount of time passed in his prison, deprived of all senses save the drifting nausea. Then a buzzing sound and sensation vibrated through his entire being and he was released. Sort of. He could move again. Open his eyes. And was no free to vomit.

"I. Hate. Space." He spoke between heaves as he emptied the contents of his stomach. At least he wasn't floating anymore. Granted he was dangling quite painfully from his wrists, which were secured somewhere above his head, but it was better than the weightlessness.

Finally using his newfound, albeit limited, freedom to open his eyes, he was relieved to see Donnie standing in front of him, fettered at his wrists and ankles, but otherwise relatively unharmed. The relief evaporated when he caught Donnie's expression. Something was very wrong.

"You will do as your told or this one will suffer the consequences."

His attention snapped to his left where Darth Maul stood at what appeared to be his prison's controls. So that's how it was. He returned his attention to his brother.

"Whatever he wants, don't do it, no matter what he does to me. Understand?"

Suddenly he could feel his shell pulling apart from his plastron, straining the cartilage connecting the two halves and tearing at the flesh underneath. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't contain his scream of agony at the sensation of being torn in two. The intensity of the pain peaked and everything went dark.

* * *

April sat cross legged in front of Leo, following his lead in the breathing exercises intended to calm her mind and spirit. She would need to quell her inner turmoil for this to work.

Technically, she'd been trying since the pain in her head had cleared enough to focus. She'd recovered quickly, despite Casey hogging the magic healing machine, but all her attempts had been in vain. She couldn't use her gift to reach Donnie or Raph.

And so the days passed as they followed their only lead, setting a course to the Lehon system, or, as it turned out, Fugitoid's best approximation. Since the actual location of the star system had been erased from all public record, they were on their way towards a location that Fugitoid had generated from a mish mash of vague mentions here and there, recorded oral traditions and unsanctioned histories. At least they were moving. Standing in place would have driven her mad.

While she had been busy failing, Leo had been running simulated battles against Darth Maul in the holographic chamber with Mikey and eventually Casey, trying to find a strategy that worked. Based on his increasing grumpiness, she concluded that the effort was not progressing smoothly.

They'd invited her on more than one occasion, growing increasingly annoyed with her refusals, until she'd finally revealed what she'd been up to. Despite her utter lack of success, they'd actually perked up at the mention of her plan, surprisingly. She wished she'd said something sooner. They could have been in this position days ago if she had.

Right now it was just her and Leo. Mikey and Casey's inability to sit still and shut up had resulted in Fugitoid escorting them out of the room. Now, with any luck, Leo could use his meditative expertise to help her tap into her full powers.

She could feel the weight in her lap and prayed that it would make a difference. When Mikey had suggested it as good luck charm, she could have smacked herself for forgetting that she had it. The gift from the Aeons had always caused a constant buzz in her head as its own energy pressed against her power. So she'd tucked it into storage to get some relief and had promptly forgotten about it. Hopefully it would enhance her power as Donnie had hypothesized.

Donnie. With each breath, she felt her body relax, tension flowing out of her like water. Some part of her was aware of the crystal, no longer in lap, but floating in front of her and glowing. But she had no attention to spare for the phenomenon. Her mind was like tunnel vision straight to Donnie. She could sense him. So close. If she reached out, she could...

For an instant their minds connected and she was there with him, feeling his fear, pain and helplessness. Something wasn't right. Concerned, she reached out for Raph, assuming that he must be near Donnie.

She'd barely brushed his mind, full of determination and anger, when blinding pain seared all her thoughts away and she shattered the silence of the meditation room with her screaming.

* * *

Donnie stared up at his bound sibling, the analytical part of his mind providing a buffet of unpleasant possibilities for what was about to happen while the rest rejected the situation wholesale.

"You will do as your told or this one will suffer the consequences."

Donnie felt all his defiance melt away at Darth Maul's words. Risking himself for the sake of ideals was one thing. Risking one of his brothers was something entirely different. For a single comforting instant, he imagined April's presence with him, but knew better than to give in to wishful thinking.

Raph fixated on him. "Whatever he wants, don't do it, no matter what he does to me. Understand?"

He wished he could agree or even nod, show some solidarity, but he was afraid for Raph, even if his brave older brother didn't fear for himself. Unfortunately, his silence was not enough of an answer for Darth Maul. The bastard focused on Raph and Donnie gasped at the sound of his brother's scream, watching his shell splinter apart at the sides as the two halves pulled away from each other under the pressure of some unseen force.

"Stop! I'll do it! Just stop."

Raph went limp and Darth Maul returned his broken sibling to stasis. He felt numb with shock as he was led back to his computer console prison. As Darth Maul reattached his restraints, he spoke to him.

"Now that you know what is at stake. I want my space station. Get. To. Work."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Donnie could do nothing but comply.

* * *

April blinked back to consciousness in the ship infirmary, hearing Fugitoid prattle on about something. "…physically fine as far as I can tell. None of the diagnostics…"

"She's back!" Mikey cut him off, knocking the wind out her with an enthusiastic hug. Casey let out a sigh of relief.

Leo avoided her gaze, looking aggrieved. "I'm sorry April. I shouldn't have pushed you to…"

"No, Leo, I did it. It worked. I can find them."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

April sat at the helm, keeping the ship steered in the correct direction, hanging on to the semi-meditative state that Leo had coached her into as the gift from the Aeons levitated in front of her, flooding the bridge with brilliant light. Fugitoid had brought them as far as he could, based on his best guess of Lehon's approximate location, before turning navigation over to her.

 _"I should be able to produce a reasonably detailed scan for quite the distance in front of us, though the vastness of space does make even such powerful analytical systems nearly insignificant. Still, I'm fairly certain it has quite a boost over anyone else's. Donatello and I were customizing it for maximum possible range before…"_

Donnie. Every memory and thought reinforced her connection. Now they were crawling their way closer and closer to him at a painfully incremental rate. She didn't know how long she'd been playing this game of hot and cold, working her way evermore near. It could have been hours or days and she could no longer distinguish between her own exhaustion and his as they both seemed to work at a feverish pace with no break.

It didn't help that wherever he was seemed glazed in something dark and ominous. At the start she'd felt like she'd been suffocating as the atmosphere coated her mind, clinging to ever thought and feeling, seeping into her very being. She'd pictured it as ink or oil, slowly enveloping her. Though she was now so accustomed to its presence that she barely noticed anymore. All that mattered was Donnie. She had no focus to spare for anything else.

"...pril! April!"

The voice accompanied by some violent shaking shattered her tenuous link. She cried out as she felt Donnie slip away from her and spun on the responsible party with a snarl. Casey's eyes widened as he raised his hands in front of him, as though to ward her off and backed away.

"What?" She didn't even recognize the sound of her own voice. Great. Now he was looking at her like something was wrong.

"Easy Red. You can stop now. Fugitoid thinks he's got it on the scanner."

What? They'd found them? All her efforts abruptly caught up with her and she slumped, exhausted, back into her seat.

Mikey shoved a piece of pizza in her face and she jerked away swatting it aside.

He frowned. "Aww, it's not working anymore."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Not working?"

Casey, having recovered from the shock of her near attack, leaned casually on the side of the helm controls. "Every time he stuck food in your face, you'd trance-eat it. Super creepy, Red. It worked for drinks too if he used a straw."

Her eyes slid back to a sheepish Mikey. "You were force feeding me?"

He nervously stuffed the pizza in his own mouth to avoid having to answer, but she wasn't inclined to let it go that easily.

"Mikey?"

He finished swallowing the slice and tucked his arms behind his back while tracing circles on the floor with his toes as he avoided her gaze. "I thought you'd be hungry. I wouldn't want to go days without eating. That would be the worst. Besides you gotta keep your strength up, right?"

Days? Crap, he was probably right.

"Exactly what were you feeding me?"

He brought his hands up in surrender. "Just pizza, I swear!"

Casey grinned. "Don't worry, Red. We wouldn't let him give you any of his custom toppings. Normal pepperoni all the way."

Mikey rolled his eyes. "Boring pepperoni, you mean."

"That's enough guys." Leo's voice broke into the banter as he approached, looking somewhat concerned at April.

"How soon will we be there Leo?"

His brows scrunched together. "Soon, although Fugitoid is still running analysis to give us an exact time."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Good."

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Now come on. We need to get you to the infirmary."

She tensed. "What? Why?"

He managed a half-hearted smile. "Because you're dead on your feet and I know you want to be a part of this mission. Fugitoid mentioned that the infirmary's healing chamber can rapidly simulate sleep, although I cut him off when started going into details of the long term side effects of habitual overuse."

She nodded an allowed him to help her to her feet.

"Oh dear…" They all turned towards Fugitoid, on the other side of the room, staring at a large screen full of complicated schematics.

"Is that a good 'oh dear' or…?"

"No." Leo and Casey responded to Mikey in unison.

She staggered her way over to Fugitoid. "What's wrong now?"

He tapped his metallic fingers together. "It's impossible to be sure, but with all the similarities, the odds of it being a coincidence…"

"Just spit it out already." For once she agreed with Casey.

"The space station you've been leading us towards, looks to be of Rakatan make." He seemed to be expecting some kind of response, but they only stared at him, waiting for him to make sense.

He sighed at their ignorance. "The Rakatan Infinite Empire was a great power many millennia ago. An archeologist friend of mine had a particular interest in them, even if research on their civilization is still rather taboo."

Casey crossed his arms impatiently. "And we care about this why?"

Fugitoid's eye lights became horizontal bars of annoyance. "Because I believe that this station is one of their most dangerous artifacts, the Star Forge. Technically all information on its existence is supposed to be suppressed, but they enslaved people from so many different worlds to build it, that tales of their cruelty and savagery have managed to survive the passage of time, being handed down over the generations by the descendants of those who suffered at their hands. If the Star Forge is here, it's no wonder the Lehon system was quarantined."

Leo placed a hand on Casey's shoulder, indicating that he should put a lid on his impatience and staving off another outburst. "What can this space station do that would have provoked such fear?"

Fugitoid looked back up at the screen. "If my colleague was correct, it could manufacture battle droids and war ships on a massive scale. An infinite and endless army, created at an unprecedented rate."

They all froze, though Leo was the first to speak. "He's going to use it for conquest."

Fugitoid beeped sadly. "Yes. It will be a futile and bloody war of attrition for all peoples against Darth Maul's endless hordes."

"Damn…" For once Casey had captured her sentiments exactly.

Then Fugitoid chirped cheerfully. "Fortunately, it seems to have sustained serious damage. From the looks of it, the space station can't possible produce at full scale, if it's even operational at all."

Realization clicked into place and she voiced the thought as it occurred to her. "That's why he wanted Donnie. To fix it. Make it work again."

Casey snorted. "News flash to Darth Maul. There's no way D would ever do that for him. I can see why he took Donnie, but what's he want Raph for?"

Leo's voice was ice cold when he answered. "Because there's no way Don would ever fix that thing for him. Not without incentive." He turned to Fugitoid. "Get us there. Fast."

April smiled as he turned to leave for the infirmary. After seeing Leo's expression, she wouldn't want to be in Darth Maul's shoes.

* * *

Darth Maul stood at the threshold, watching his captive work. Initially, it had needed to manually repair some of the facility's droids, but now that those were running, it could remain at its computer terminal, directing the repairs as the droids either worked the reconstruction or built more droids to aid them. Progress was coming along at a pleasing pace. It wouldn't be long now before he could begin production of his grand army.

After a few more minutes, he determined that he didn't need to engage in the disagreeable task of forcing the turtle to eat. He suspected that it hoped to thwart him by working itself to death before it could accomplish enough. He would not allow that.

Although having someone else to take care of such menial tasks would be preferable. An apprentice. Well, why not now? The cell was fully operational if it needed incentive. Turning, he left his captive to its task to seek out the other.

* * *

Raph's existence had been a blur of pain and nausea in what was otherwise sensory deprivation. He couldn't tell if his inability to scream or cry out was curse or a blessing, although the seeming endlessness of his situation certainly sucked shell.

And then the paralysis abruptly vanished and he let out a hoarse cry as gravity yanked him taut, straining his wounded shell. Between the present pain and indeterminate time floating, he couldn't stop himself from doubling forward as far as his bonds would allow and dry heaving his empty stomach. Oh fuck how that hurt with his splintered shell. But he couldn't stop and was forced to just ride it out. Too bad it wasn't quite enough to make him black out.

With great effort, he forced his protesting legs to support his weight, easing the pressure on his screaming torso. He finally opened his eyes, unsurprised to see Darth Maul standing in front of him. But no Donnie. Where was his brother?

The only thing keeping his panic in check was the knowledge that the monster before him needed his little brother and therefore could not outright kill him. So why was he here? Did Donnie need a little more motivation? If so, why wasn't he being forced to watch? Even if he was going to have to endure another round, he'd rather be able to see his brother and know that he was safe.

Despite his circumstances, he matched Darth Maul's glare with one of his own. "So is this a social call or what?"

Darth Maul actually smiled. Creepy.

"You were a worthy opponent."

Raph scoffed and immediately wished he hadn't as pain lanced through his body. "Is that supposed to be some kind of admission of respect? If so, I gotta say, it's empty words, given your actions."

Darth Maul remained unfazed. "You are a skilled warrior. Brave. Unwilling to give in, despite facing dire odds. Those are qualities worth preserving."

Raph didn't like where this was going and desperately hoped it wouldn't end up like his stint with the Shredder's brain worms.

If Darth Maul, noted Raph's discomfort, he didn't let on. "This is no way for a warrior to die, wasting away as a captive."

Raph scowled. "And yet here I am. Not one for following those beliefs you're spouting, are you?"

Darth Maul kept going as though he hadn't spoken. "You must hate this. This helplessness. Not having the strength, the power, to protect what's yours."

Raph was starting to breath heavily with the effort of holding himself up. "Yeah, you got me all figured out then?"

As much as he hated to admit it, Darth Maul had struck a nerve. He hated this. Intensely. It was humiliating and he knew Don was out there being forced into servitude because he had been too weak to look after him properly. He'd failed in his responsibility and it was eating him alive. He didn't need to be taunted about it.

Darth Maul leaned in. "You can have the power you need. If serve me, I will teach you power beyond your imagining. You will never again be subjugated to such treatment at the hands of an enemy. They will all fall before you. You can keep your companions safe from anything that dares to threaten them and you need not fear harm to them from me. Swear your loyalty to me and it will all be yours."

Raph closed his eyes and breathed deeply despite the pain. It was tempting. So tempting. He'd never wanted anything so much as the strength to protect his family. It's why he exercised until his muscles gave out and trained until he thought he would collapse. He pushed himself to his limits for years and now it wasn't enough. This bastard had handed his shell to him and taken his brother.

He wanted the power to keep that from happening ever again. But not like this. Not from him. He would never shame himself and his family by accepting such a bargain. He didn't want to die now and not this way, but he would never willingly serve this monster.

Opening his eyes, he looked at Darth Maul dead on, then launched a gob of spit at him, the only attack he could muster in his current position. It hurt like hell and Maul easily leaned out of the way, but it was worth. Nothing less would have so completely expressed his sentiment towards the insult.

"Take your offer and shove it up your ass."

Darth Maul's eyes narrowed in barely restrained fury. "You will serve me one way or another. If not as my apprentice, then I will take your life force to enhance my own power and feed the Star Forge and you can spend your remaining time drifting between life and death instead of falling in combat as a true warrior should. When I return I'll ask only once more."

Darth Maul activated the machine's controls and Raph didn't even have time to scream as the new energy enveloped him, realizing for the first time that the stasis he'd been enduring was not the worst he could suffer.

* * *

Donnie's limbs trembled from the exhaustion as he worked. What he wouldn't give for a cup of coffee. He should probably be starving too, but the circumstances had killed his appetite. All he cared about now was staying awake and continuing to work.

More than once Darth Maul had commented on his lack of progress and provided vividly detailed descriptions of what would happen to Raph if he didn't pick up the pace. He didn't know how or why, but somehow Darth Maul seemed appraised of everything he did. If it wasn't ridiculous, he'd swear that the space station was telling him.

No, Darth Maul must have more tech savvy than he'd given him credit for and was somehow monitoring him. So he dared not try to sabotage the repair process, fearing the consequences of getting caught.

The more he worked, the more clearly he could see the space station's purpose. He'd gradually come to the realization that, for the sake of all innocent life in the universe, he must not get this abomination operational for that monster.

The illusion of April's presence with him had been feeding him false hope for days, but now even that was gone. He knew what he had to do, though he wished Raph weren't here with him for it. If they were lucky, the end would be quick and they wouldn't need to suffer through too much of Darth Maul's fury. But he currently understood the system enough to see the way through and had repaired the station enough that it would work. All he needed now was the courage to do it. Like Raph's courage. _"_

 _Whatever he wants, don't do it, no matter what he does to me. Understand?"_

"I understand." With that, he initiated the irreversible process of overloading the fusion power core. "I understand."

* * *

While there was more activity than they would have liked, the Star Forge's resources where still stretched pretty thin, allowing them to dock undetected, at least as far as they could tell.

April wasn't so sure that they hadn't been noticed, but she didn't think Darth Maul knew. The eerie, welcoming sensation that she'd experienced upon entering felt private, exclusive, not to be shared.

She didn't think that whatever it was that had noticed them had alerted anyone else and, against her better judgement, she hadn't told any of her team either. Not about the cloying presence that permeated her mind while she searched and not about the thicker more intense version that lived here, swirling around her and reaching out to every aspect of her being.

It probably wasn't important. Not important enough to distract everyone from the mission. Not when they were so close. She could feel Donnie near, no longer needing to seek him out. It felt like his soul was calling to her.

The next thing she knew, she was leading the way, everyone falling into place behind her. She was so near. Growing careless, she abandoned stealth, pushing to her top speed, making no effort to hide her presence. The desolate sense of belonging in this place did not help. She burst through another door into a room that looked like a ship's bridge. With tunnel vision, she zeroed in on Donnie, somewhere at the other end.

"Rescue Raph and Donnie. I'll cover you."

Leo's command barely penetrated her thoughts.

"But…"

Leo cut off Mikey and Casey's simultaneous protests. "Go now. Get them to safety. I will handle this."

With no thought to spare for the argument taking place behind her, she was already dashing on ahead. She could see him now. He turned, almost in slow motion to face her. For an instant, she could see that familiar surge of joy in his warm brown eyes that he got whenever he looked at her, but it was quickly replaced with terror. He managed to catch her with his free arm as she threw herself towards him, instinctively pulling her in to him.

"Donnie. You're ok. I thought…"

"April, you need to get out of here right now. This place…it's going to…"

"Dude, after what we just went through to find you guys, we aren't leaving without you. Now where's Raph?" Casey cut into whatever he was going to say.

Donnie's head snapped towards the stairs they'd come up from. "Raph."

Mikey crouched beside Donnie, patting his shell and offering his brother a replacement staff. "No worries. Operation Bro Rescue is a go."

Donnie grabbed the staff and pushed Mikey back. "Hurry. He's down that flight of stairs and to the left. You have to destroy the power source at the top of the cell."

Mikey straightened. "But you…"

"Go! There's no time."

Casey nodded, offering Mikey a grin. "I got this. After that misunderstanding on Persei 8, I think I have a good idea of how the cuffs work. He'll be out in no time."

After a moment of hesitation, Mikey caved and turned to follow Donnie's directions.

Casey got to work on Don's cuffs as the exhausted turtle slumped against the console, fighting the desire to collapse after the stress of the last few days. No one seemed to notice April's desperate expression as she watched on, immobile. Without her purpose driving her, all she could feel was the presence of this place, coating her like a second skin.

She observed her family through a veil, as though beneath the surface of water, trying to see the distorted image of whatever lay above. She wanted to call out, reach out, beg someone to save her from the darkness that threatened to drown her, but it was too late. She was too far gone. Silently screaming within herself, the veil thickened, closing her off from everyone she loved.

* * *

Mikey darted down the steps and turned as he'd been instructed, able to follow directions when it mattered. When he caught sight of Raph, it threw him enough to trip over his own feet and skid along the metal floor on his plastron to the foot of Raph's cell.

His brother, shell splintered and cracked, floated in a tube of pink light, curled up in fetal position as much as the lightning bonds on his wrists and ankles would allow. It was so…wrong. This wasn't how Raph was supposed to be. It wasn't right.

In a rare moment of absolute fury, he pulled out his energy tonfas and flipped up to the top of the cell, jamming the orange plasma into the generator. It died in a shower of sparks and a puff of smoke and Raph's bonds vanished. His brother began to topple forward out of the cell with a groan. Oops.

Pushing off the top of the cell, he launched himself downward, hitting the floor in a roll, just in time to pop up and catch Raph who still released a grunt of pain at the contact, despite his best efforts.

"Hang in there, bro. We'll be out of here in no time."

Not sure if Raph could use them, but knowing he'd rather have them than not, he slipped his brother's techno-jitte into his belt. He needed to get Raph back to the ship, where Fugitoid waited. The robot-dude would know how to fix him.

Trying to be as gentle as possible, for the sake of his brother's comfort and pride, Mikey slipped under one of Raph's arms and turned to make a break for the exit. Only to find them surrounded by the droids that had formerly been mindlessly working on the space station. Well, Raph was in no position to say it, so he'd pick up the slack.

"Ah, space apples."

Gently setting his brother down and leaning him against the broken cell, he turned back to advancing robo-fiends, drawing his tonfas. With Raph's life at stake, he couldn't afford to screw this up. Taking a slow calming breath, he could hear his father's words, echoing through his mind. _Focus. Be calm like the forest._

Letting all the distractions flow away, he darted forward into the crowd of robots, flowing around their clumsy attacks like water as he severed them into junk metal with his plasma weapons. Within seconds, he was surrounded by sparking bits of ruined droids. So awesome.

Taking a little time to enjoy his totally impressive victory, he broke into a victory dance that was abruptly interrupted by a sputtering whir behind him. Spinning around, Mikey saw the last droid, one he'd missed, blaster aimed at him with the red glow of Raph's jitte sticking out of its face having been pushed through the back of its metallic skull. The twitching robot collapsed to the ground as Raph pulled his weapon free.

His brother's expression was fierce, _controlled and focused fire_ , but softened as he switched his attention to Mikey, his inner blaze dimming without an opponent to stoke it. "What did I say about your victory dances?" His words lacked the usual heat of his anger.

Mikey rubbed his head in chagrin. "Not till I've won. Thanks bro."

Raph managed a strained smile. "We got each other's shells."

Then he fell forward and Mikey rushed in to catch him.

"Yeah, we do."

* * *

Despite the ticking clock, Donnie breathed a sigh of relief as the cuffs clicked free.

"No need to thank me. It's just the classic awesomeness that is Casey Jones."

He couldn't help chuckling at his friend and rival, unable to do anything without being over the top.

"Don't celebrate too long. We've got to get out of here. I kind of rigged the place to blow."

Casey's eyes widened. "How'd you know we were about to rescue you?"

"I didn't."

Casey frowned in disapproval, but whatever he'd been about to say was lost in the flurry of beeps as April started typing rapidly into the console. A glance told him that she'd turned all the repair droids on them except for two, tasked with ejecting the overloading core. The station would still take crippling damage, but might not be obliterated into space dust any more. Either way, it still wasn't safe for them to remain.

"April, what are you…" He didn't finish the question, losing all words as she turned her head towards them, eyes solid black, reminding him of his brothers, under the influence of the mutant, parasitic wasp. No.

Whipping out her tessen, she lunged towards him. Between the fatigue and emotional shock, he found himself unable to dodge. And then Casey was there between them, deflecting the strike with his hockey stick. Her tessen sliced it in two as he threw her attack off course.

"Aww come on Red! Snap out of it! I can't replace these out here." He ducked another swipe and called back to Donnie. "I'm gonna need a new stick when we get out of this. Maybe something futuristic like everyone else's upgrades. I'm thinkin' titanium."

Casey continued to dodge, skating around April's slashes as he spoke. But his words had the desired effect, breaking Donnie's paralysis. Taking advantage of the distraction Casey caused, he rushed forwards and wrapped his arms around April, momentarily pinning her in place.

She struggled, but he held firm. _Immovable. Like the mountain._ "April. Fight this. I know you can."

Recalling her presence with him in his mind the past few days, he reached for that place of connection she'd established inside him. It was the mental equivalent of digging through heavy silt under water. But her was determined and finally broke through.

He could feel her cry of triumph as he reached out to her. Her astral projection clasped hands with his and he began to pull back, but was blocked by the barrier he'd just pushed through. It was not so easily traversed from this side.

Beyond it, he could here Casey shouting at them. "Snap out of it already! I'm not leaving you!"

The explosion. They were all going to die here together.

With their minds linked, April could read his thoughts and understood what was going to happen. Pulling him tightly to her, he was shielded as she let out a piercing scream and her power blasted out of her in all directions, shattering the dark shell that encased them. They collapsed to the floor, back in the physical world as the station shuddered violently.

"About time." Casey glared down at them, worry still etched in his face. Unable to stand on their own, Casey needed to pull them both up to their feet, bracing one of them on each shoulder.

"We need to get out of here now." Donnie's fingers grazed the console keys as he spoke, summoning the overloading core back.

"On it D." He pulled them along, supporting their dual weight impressively as he skated for the stairs.

* * *

Leo drew his swords as he watched his family go, reluctantly following his orders.

"You really expect to take me on your own turtle?" Darth Maul's voice came dark and threatening from the row of broken cells to his left.

He turned to face him. "For the sake of my family and all innocent life in the universe, I will defeat you."

Darth Maul did not look impressed as he drew his saber-staff and activated it. Concerned as he was for Raph, Donnie and the others on their way to rescue them, he knew he had to let it go and trust them. As they trusted him. _Be like the wind. Let nothing weigh you down._

At the memory of his father's advice, he took a breath and let everything but this moment fade away. He'd been in this place of instinctive focus before, when he'd been facing the Shredder and his minions during the Kraang invasion. But he'd grown since then. It would not end the same way.

Light as air, he flowed in, catching each staff strike on his swords, redirecting them away from him without breaking his movement. It was as though he knew every attack his opponent planned before it landed.

Inside the staff's reach, he swung out for a dual sweep that would take Darth Maul's head, but his opponent, arched back just out of reach. An instant before it happened, Leo could feel the kick approaching as Maul flipped around, dropping down to duck it at the last second.

He thrust upward to impale Darth Maul, midair, but the Sith Lord, managed to bring his staff around to deflect his attack aside and buy him the time to land. Darth Maul drove his weapon forward towards Leo's chest, but Leo anticipated it, spinning out of the way and slashing his blades across Mauls' torso.

His adversary whipped his staff back blocking the dual strike at the last second while bring his leg around for another kick. Although he felt it coming, Leo wasn't in a position to dodge completely.

So, as he pulled back, he flicked one of his swords towards the kick, not caring that he'd just deprived himself of a weapon. As Maul's leg connected with the sword, he was forced to sever part of his own mechanical foot to kick the energy blade out or reach.

Leo closed both hands around his remaining hilt. With Maul staggering back on his damaged leg, he rushed in, but his opponent still brought up his staff in time to block. Except Leo corrected at the last second, slicing the plasma staff in two at the handle.

Unfortunately, the blades still functioned. Wielding them like dual swords, Darth Maul brought them down on him, and he barely caught the crossed beams of energy on his remaining blade.

Maul swung his damaged leg up striking the pommel of Leo's sword from below. He knew it would disarm him, but not without cost. Twisting his own saber as the Maul's knee connected with his weapon handle, he redirected some of the blow's force into his opponent's blades, launching all three into the air. His own sword lost, flung hopelessly out of reach, he propelled his hands outward to snatch one of Maul's sabers as the Sith, seized the other.

They broke apart and jumped back, each now armed with a single sword. Then Maul threw a wave of invisible energy at him as though he were pushing a solid wall outward at incredible speed. Leo could sense it and instinctively lashed out with his mind, as though it were one of his swords, slashing the blast of force in twain and charging through it.

Maul's eyes widened in disbelief and his split second pause of shock cost him. He didn't have time to evade Leo's thrust, allowing him to bury his sword into the center of the Sith Lord's chest. Darth Maul slowly toppled backwards.

"Leo we need to go now! It's gonna blow!"

The battle trance broke as he turned to see Casey skating towards him, supporting Donnie and April on each side. Barely a step behind, followed Mikey, holding up Raph's weight.

As his youngest brother approached, he kicked up Leo's fallen swords to his free hand with a dexterity that never failed to astound the rest of them. Mikey was more capable than anyone would ever guess if only he'd focus.

With a final glance at his fallen foe, he deactivated the half of saber-staff in his hand and tucked it into his belt.

"Yes. Let's go."

* * *

Captain Xizalt oozed into the cargo bay, following the excited chief engineer and had to admit that the little techie was right. The escape pod was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Applying his appraisal expertise, he believed it to be extremely ancient yet somehow incredibly advanced. This would be worth a fortune to the right buyer.

They'd approached the Lehon sector after detecting a massive explosion, but, due to some irregularities in the energy readings, hadn't been able to get an exact location on its source. This part of the galaxy was taboo and generally avoided, for reasons long forgotten, but he had defied that practice. Competition among scavengers, like himself and his crew, was fierce and no reward could be had without risk. Unfortunately, they'd found nothing. Until now.

"Sir, there's a humanoid alien inside. Vitals are low, but it's alive."

He slithered over to see what his ensign was going on about.

It was collapsed unconscious, draped over the control console. He'd never encountered such a biped before. Although, mostly covered in fabric, it's head was a blend of red and black, with horns poking through in various places. The creature's lower half appeared robotic and he could see a large, cauterized hole through its torso. Humanoids. Always so strange.

A quick search of the body awarded him a small cylindrical device. Pressing the button, generated a long, solid beam of red plasma. With a gasp, he shut it down and tucked it into his belt. He'd seen weapons like this before. Assuming it was authentic and not some knock off replica, it would be worth a great deal to the right collectors. This odd creature was his jackpot.

Too bad there wasn't more though. One could never have too much. Although, this was an escape pod, which meant it had to have escaped from something. Something just as remarkable as it. Something that could be salvaged for profit. Maybe this dying creature knew where he could find more tech like this. Well he certainly wouldn't allow it to take such valuable secrets with it to the grave.

"Put the alien in the cryogenic, restoration chamber."

As his people loaded up the strange being to cart it off towards the Medbay, he rubbed his tentacles together eagerly. Once it was healthy enough to talk, he'd personally see to the extraction of all its valuable information. Soon. Yes, soon he'd be rich beyond his wildest dreams.


End file.
